Voracious R-eat-er

Jasper Fforde, one of my absolute favorite authors, came out with a fifth book in his Thursday Next series, which was finally published in paperback and released last month. It has been a while since I last read the first four books, so I decided to read them again as a refresher before sinking into the new one. (I realize I should be working on my homework with Finals so soon upon me, but I just don't feel like being responsible.)

Last night, I had just made my way through the first one and started on the second. I set the first book aside on the bed, and my cat, Harley, decided to lay down next to it. He always likes to lay close to my books. I figured it's because he wants attention, and he sees me stare at those things for hours on end. I pet him for a minute, and then went back to reading.

Suddenly, I hear this horrible tearing noise. Harley had reached over and chewed a big chunk out of the first two pages of the book!!!! I got the pieces out, and was able to tape them back in. Luckily there was minimal damage, and the pages were just the reviews and bibliographic information, not the actual text.

I guess he took the idea of having a voracious appetite for books too literally.

Common Sense FAIL!!

Last night, I was attending an online class session for one of my Library Science classes (and letting my mind wander, as usual) when I stumbled upon this:

http://failblog.org/2008/06/04/book-rental-fail/

The link connects to FailBlog, an icanhascheezburger lol site, with a photo of an interesting posting.

The pictured post says:

book rental service?
was just thinking. my sister does -alot- of reading, and spends like $1000 a year on just books alone. most of them she reads once then never looks at again. is there any kind of like…video rental store but for books? would make things alot cheaper, plus once one person had read one the next person can get enjoyment from it etc

This reminded me of last week, when one of my coworkers told me about some Internet site that she thought I might want to check out. She said it was "like Netflix, but for books. See, you rent books, which are delivered to you in the mail, and when you finish, you send them back and they mail you a new one."

I have to admit, I thought she was pulling my leg, but it is absolutely for real!! The site is BookSwim.com, and the cheapest plan starts at $14.99/month for 2 books at a time. There are testimonials from users saying how much money they have saved by using this service, rather than buying or borrowing books.

Seriously?!?!?! Do they really live that far away from a library that the cost of gas to and from is more than $15 a month? I've lived in a big West Coast city and a small Midwest town, and in both places I have never been more than 5 miles away from a library. And I can check out an unlimited amount of books for 3 to 4 weeks at a time, and renew them online or over the phone. All of this FOR FREE!!!! If I am late returning them, it never costs all that much money. And when you consider all the additional services of a library, such as music CDs, movies, events, etc., how could anyone think this a good deal?

I just don't understand it. Our society will pay for anything, even something they can already get for no cost! We already pay for the library through our taxes, so why not get our money's worth and use it???? Maybe I'm biased as a lifelong library lover and librarian-in-training, but this just seems completely ridiculous.

Wow...it sure has been a while.

Almost 3 years in fact. I was trying to recall the name of a former secret admirer, and I remembered this blog. And I figured, what the hell?, I think I'll start posting again. Maybe tomorrow, when I'm not waiting up for a class.

He Asked For It

My boyfriend is going to kill me for posting this, so it better be read and appreciated.

Yesterday, I went over to my boyfriend's place to stay the night, and I got there a little early, so I just chilled out and read a book until he came from the gym. When he got home, he seemed a little bummed, but I figured it was just his usual blues from hating San Jose and wanting to move. It wasn't. The truth eventually came out.

As he was cooking dinner, he mumbles this comment about how shitty his day was, and ends it with the phrase "this homosexual at the gym grabbed my ass." This, of course, immediately grabs my attention and I ask him to explain further.

The story is, there is some weird guy who goes to his gym who is always creeping everyone out and acting strange. Yesterday, he came in again and started talking to my boyfriend, who was getting annoyed, and figured the guy was on some serious drugs and told him to go away. A little later the guy walks by and grabs my boyfriend's ass. He gets really pissed and tells the guy to get lost, that he does not want to hear an explanation, and he just needs to go away before he hits him. The guy comes by a little later, and my boyfriend gives him a chance to explain. The guy's excuse is that he is possessed by a demon, and that he thought that my boyfriend wanted him to do it.

So of course, my boyfriend gets pissed and puts in a complaint. Only to find out is was not the first complaint made against the guy today. Another man put in a complaint saying the guy was staring at him lewdly in the shower. I told my boyfriend if he ever sees the guy at the gym again, he should call the cops.

Changes

I quit my job. October 18th is my last day. Yay! Ha ha. I have been working way too hard, and it has gotten me seriously run down. I figured, after being sick for about 3 months straight, something had to change. So, I put in my two weeks notice. Now I get to finally sleep, and sleep in for once. I'll have time to do my homework. Time to write for my blog too. It has been over a month.

Anyway...I can't wait. It needs to be Tuesday already.

Blog Spam

I hate junk mail. So much. It makes my blood boil, it is so annoying. My email is filled with it, because my thoughtful mother decided that when she wanted to get this free offer online, she would give my email address instead, so she wouldn't be hit with spam. And of course she did not ask my permission, she just did it and then told me about it.

So while it is already annoying dealing with this, today I have the added privilege of of discovering I can also receive spam on my blog. Some jerk responded to my last blog entry with some BS about stocks and his company. It was not appreciated.

Now I have to email the blogger people and find out how I can delete this crap and keep it from happening in the future.

Squeaky Wheel Becomes A Supervisor

I got a call yesterday that left me a little upset. I had referred a friend of mine for a job at my company, and they gave her a placement that pays more than mine. I have been working there for two years at the same rate of pay. So of course that made me upset. My boyfriend said I should call immediately and set up a meeting. I did so, and had my meeting this morning.

It ended up going quite well. I got something even better than a pay raise. The company is going to start me on a training program which will include national certificaton, and training for a guard supervisor position (which means waaaay better money.) The first three stages of training are completed online, and I'm going to be starting those immediately.

So wish me luck. Little bit more hard work, and I might be the boss pretty soon.

Lack of Integrity

We live in a society where people are incapable of admitting when they are wrong. Even when a person has commited an obvious or greivous error, the automatic response is to deny wrongdoing, responsibility or any fault whatsoever, and blame somebody else.

Today at work, someone parked their truck in a loading dock of one of the empty stores in the mall. Regardless of the fact that there is no store currently using said loading dock, it is still illegal to park there. That space was never intended for parking of regular vehicles. It is surrounded by high walls which create huge blind spots. At the speed which people fly through this parking lot, an accident is very likely to occur as a car exits this area.

So of course, when my boss saw the truck, she asked me to call the local towing company we are contracted with and have them hitch it up. Within five minutes of my call, the truck was on site and the car was pulled out within seconds.

About a half hour or more later, I get a call on the radio from Target, saying a customer is angry because his vehicle is missing. I head down to meet the fellow, and before I can even introduce myself, he begins screaming to me about this grave injustice we have committed against him. His words, not mine. (Melodramatic much?)

Anyway, I take him up to my boss, and head back down to my truck, where I can still hear the man screaming because he is that loud. He keeps arguing that he is an ex-cop, and we had no legal grounds to tow him from the property. Furthermore, he felt that we should only tow old, dirty ugly vehicles, not brand new expensive ones like his. According to him, he parked there because he did not want anyone to ding the precious paint on his vehicle, and our parking lot is unsafe.

Here is what I think: As a cop, he should damn well know better by now than to park illegally. And only tow old clunkers? Just because he is wealthy, apparently he deserves special treatment? Hell no! I don't care if the car is a Jaguar XK8 or a bloody Chevy Nova. Illegal is illegal, regardless of who you are. Besides, he is probably just comfortably middle class, and that doesn't grant one celebrity status, idiot. And finally, I do parking counts of the mall lots twice a day. No one at all parks on the upper three levels of the Target parking structure. No one could ding his damn door. So basically, he is just a lazy old man with compensation issues.

The way I see it is this: If you fuck up, admit it, take responsibility, and let it go. Learn a goddamn lesson and don't do it again. I just hope that I have enough integrity to stand up and take it like a man when I mess up. It's far more admirable to accept guilt with dignity than to argue when you know you are wrong.

Mechanical Marissa

It seems that every week with my boyfriend, I learn cool new things. This week it was auto mechanics.

Recently, Erik's car has been making funny noises when he has been driving it. One of the front wheels was making the most awful grinding noise. When he took a look at it, it turned out that the front brake pads were worn right through, and beginning to scrape the rotor on the driver's side wheel.

Rather than get ripped off by taking the car in for service, E decided to replace the pads himself. This is the first time he has ever attempted it. After getting ripped off by Kragen (they were charging 40 bucks for brake pads, and only offered a 2 year warranty that did not include wear) he called around and found that auto zone sold the pads for half the price with a lifetime warranty that did include wear.

So we drove to the deserted office building across from his apartment and set to work changing his brake pads. I helped! Granted, I was hardly needed, but I did contribute, and didn't get in the way. Plus, I provided entertainment. I did my best mechanic impression by scratching my crotch and grunting while E was on the phone with his dad getting advice.

Next week, we are going to change my brake pads, which desperately need it as well. Today's little tutorial made me rethink the whole notion of taking my car in for service. It wasn't very difficult, and it was only a fourth of the cost of taking it to the shop. Makes me think I should become a little more interested in the workings of my car.

School of Hard Knocks

I think I'm crazy. My boyfriend is a really good skateboarder, and I have continually dropped hints of how I want him to teach me. Being the angel that he is, he went out and bought me my own board and fixed it up with trucks and bearings and wheels, everything I needed.

Last night, he had me try it out a little. And I think I'm in a little over my head. I couldn't even go in a straight line without him there holding me up on the board. I'm kinda nervous now. I realize I will be falling a lot as I am learning. I told him I won't go near the board again without a helmet and protective padding. I'm otherwising anticipating a large number of contusions and concussions.

I'm still gonna have him teach me. But I have a feeling I'm gonna be hitting the ground pretty hard for a while until I get the hang of it.